Item - Revolt of the Dwarves

This little D&D inspired CYOA-styled book is a bit too coy for its own good. I imagine the target audience is an eight year old boy, sure. But even for said demographic, the adventure may prove mildly entertaining, but only just. Even a young boy might be bored with the subject matter here. One spends more time talking to giddy pixies and dealing with a puppy, rather than outwitting nasty dwarves and staving off an actual rebellion. The challenge is very simple as well... I hit upon the best ending via my first path through. While not a terrible CYOA-esque fling, Revolt of The Dwarves squanders its D&D subject matter too flippantly for my taste. The author didn't seem to understand her source inspiration or demographic well at all.

More reviews by amesgames

I started my adult re-read of Revolt of the Dwarves expecting to hate it. To my surprise, it wasn't that bad. My memories were of a small child with a puppy being the protagonist, and I assumed it would be overly cute and immature. Instead I found it slightly charming. A child reading interactive fantasy fiction wants to transcend their real life limitations by becoming a hero with the ability to fight monsters, cast spells, make their own decisions. In this book, Galen is too young to fight, so he must rely on stealth, finding allies, and performing a bit of diplomacy to defeat the Dwarven Revolt. Your goal is to journey the capital to warn the prince. There are three story-lines, the first being where you must infiltrate the dwarf's mountain kingdom, free your parents, and rally a counter-revolution amongst the dwarves. The second involves a dangerous journey down-river with your companion, a child named Sandy. The third major path sees you encountering a group of fairies to assist your journey. The interior art is not bad, and the impressive Elmore cover art, depicting the renegades charging on horseback, shows why he is the best fantasy artist of his generation. The colors of that storm front sky are gorgeous! 3 out of 5 stars.

More reviews by auximenes

While there are a lot of different paths in this book, I just found it to be rather boring. The political intrigue isn't very intriguing, the dwarves aren't portrayed very well (especially in the illustrations), and the adventure is mostly uneventful.

More reviews by Demian

In this book, you play Galen, the son of the royal mapmaker whose parents are kidnapped by the disloyal dwarves.

This is another book where you play a kid, which is fine with me. In fact, in this one, you are on your own without adults, so you really can't rely on fighting but brains.

There are three distinct paths you can take. A somewhat boring one with the dwarves. A fun one with pixies. And most interestingly a Huck Finn type river journey with another boy. So this book has high replay value as well as a grand mission (save the kingdom).

The interior art is awesome, with a particularly cute pixie girl and dryad, as well as lizardmen and the like.

These books are pretty sexless, but this one has an amazing seduction passage where a dryad sexes so much you turn into a tree. As a kid, it went completely over my head but it's still an interesting concept.

Overall, another solid offering from Estes.

More reviews by Kveto

I reread this book and have mixed feelings about it.

For such a small book, there really is a large variety of choices of places to go and things to do -- search for the dwarves, hang out in the forest, try to find the prince, etc. Each path has a lot of choices and each one does have it's own distinct adventure... yet I just don't seem to be too drawn into it.

Maybe it is because I am much older reading it now, but something just prevents me from caring about trying all the alternatives. The story is good...but perhaps the 'you are a little kid with his puppy' setup saps some of my strength!

Still, if you are new to Endless Quest, I would certainly recommend giving this a try.

One tidbit I recalled from reading this as a kid was the dryad that seduces you and then turns you into a tree!

More reviews by noonxnoon

[Rating: 1/10]
[Recommended? NO]

The Endless Quest series turns to a new series of twists and trials with its title "Revolt of the Dwarves". Equal parts invigorating and frustrating, it's a little hard to know precisely what to expect heading into this title due to the somewhat unusual use of interactivity/tone, coupled with the mixed impact of the choices and overall narrative. Perhaps (surprisingly) among the darkest books in the series, the blandly self-insertable child protagonist is given an array of looming choices; the dangers feel all the more real and nothing, except for puppy Woofy, appear trustworthy when trying to find Galen's parents. It's hard to say how suitably the author uses the source material; even though battles and a combat system would've made more sense for the series, this gamebook's occasional choice-making "gameplay" decisions feel especially predetermined compared to usual... and the difficulty level is rather stressful as well (ex. everyone is morally ambiguous, such as Whimsy and the king). The experience is rather bleak as a result of all the pending doom looming over the reader's head, and there aren't any comedic elements to lighten the mood, unlike the series' previous adventures.

Against numerous threats and all the elements, the simplicity and the series' previous weaknesses return in effect again. Perhaps toning down the dangers would've been a solid start, actually - I wouldn't necessarily consider this title to be one with a great deal of satisfaction beneath the storytelling, and I definitely believe the narrative direction could be to blame for many of the story's faults. Additionally, common sense doesn't even go far enough in this case: sometimes the story is uninspired, other times it's underwhelming, but it almost always misses the mark. Despite my endless love for fantasy, this gamebook quest, considering my recommendation standards, simply shall not pass. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

Not a bad book, but IMO, the writing takes a step back from the previous two books. Here, the writing feels rushed and the pace is a little off. I spent most of the book with pixies. The major choices occur early on, I think, and replayability should be high. But for me, too many choices centered on things extraneous to the main quest, with the final resoluation coming in a very hurried manner. Quite a few choices are not real choices as well, with certain options simply leading where others lead anyway.

I will echo Demian's thoughts concerning the interior illustrations of the dwarves... not exactly spot-on where D&D is concerned.

For me, this book represents a step or two backwards in the series.

Rating 1-10: 5

More reviews by utfanatic